Nophie
by CrazyHayniac
Summary: Nate was on the hunt for another girl to hang on his arm; Sophie was on the hunt for Zane and her old job as the manager of Rikki's cafe. When neither of their plans go the way they expect, this happens. NatexSophie This is basically how I imagine Nate and Sophie might get together.


Nate was finishing up practicing with the band soon after Cleo, Rikki, Bella, and Will had graduated from high school. Emma had returned a few short days ago. At first, Nate had been excited about the prospect of another lady coming back, but he soon found out that she was madly in love with Ash Dove, which meant that she was out of the market for dating. Bella was dating Will, Cleo was dating Lewis and they had been all over each other since his return from the states, so Bella and Cleo were both unavailable. This left Rikki. There were other girls but the ones he knew of that weren't dating weren't his type. Rikki was a year younger than he was and was his best mate's ex-girlfriend who he was not going to hit on. The last person in his radar was Sophie, the only other marketable single lady. Given, she was a few years older than him but he wasn't going to let that stop him.

Sophie walked up the beach and towards the cafe slowly, her feet guiding her as she went. Zane had fired her from the cafe, she was out of a job. She wanted so bad to be the manager of the cafe again. Maybe she could try flirting with him a little bit more to be able to get her old job as manager back, then again, maybe she could try flirting with Zane's best mate, Nate. Nate didn't seem all that bad. She didn't really believe the rumors she'd heard about him about how he was a player, he just came off as a really open person to her. Maybe Nate would be able to convince Zane to give her her job back since Zane wasn't paying her any mind. For some reason he seemed to want Rikki back, why, she was sure she would never understand.

When Sophie arrived at the cafe, she went up to the counter to order something to drink. It was Rikki who came to the counter to take her order. "What are you doing here?" Sophie asked.

"I work here. Zane told me what happened at Will's last diving competition about how you kissed him instead of the other way around. We made up and I agreed to help with the cafe again and get it back on its feet. So now I'm the manager again," Rikki spoke smugly.

_'Well, there goes my plan to be manager again,'_ Sophie thought, zoning out.

"Hello, Earth to Sophie," Rikki spoke, waving her hand in front of Sophie's face. "Are you going to stand there all day or are you going to order? I have paying customers waiting."

"Uh, yeah. I'll take a–"

"Hey Sophie. Can I buy you a drink?" Sophie turned around to see who was behind her and found herself facing Nate.

"Um, yeah, I guess if you want to."

"Cool, what do you want?" Nate asked.

Sophie turned back towards the counter, "I'll have a raspberry smoothie Rik–"

"One raspberry smoothie for the lady, Rikki. And I'll take a pineapple smoothie please," Nate said before Sophie got a chance to finish speaking.

"Coming right up," Rikki spoke, turning around to try and cover her laughter. The thought of Nate and Sophie together was laughable. Nate and Sophie went to find a table while Rikki made their drinks.

"So, tell me about yourself," Nate said as they took their seats.

"Well, Will's my younger brother. Pretty much all our lives we've been moving all over because our parents are involved in business. Although, I think they want to stay here and just travel for any business trips they have to take.

"So you're from a business family like Zane."

"Yeah, I guess– wait, Zane's from a business family?"

"His dad's Harrison Bennett."

"The name seems familiar," Sophie paused. "So is that why he has the cafe?"

"It might be. He just opened it last year at the end of the summer. There was another place here before hand called the JuiceNet cafe, but the owner, Wilfred, moved away. Zane bought it a few months later," Nate said as Rikki dropped off their drinks.

"Then Zane decided to open it with Rikki," Sophie speculated, taking a sip of her drink.

"Actually, I think I heard Zane say that it was Rikki's idea but she wouldn't be able to open it on her own so he started it behind her back and named it after her since it had been her idea."

"Oh," Sophie said, pausing for a few minutes as they sipped their drinks. "So what about you? What do you like to do?" Sophie asked, setting her drink down.

"Well, I like dirt bike riding. Before Zane opened the cafe he and I would go down to the track and mess around there for hours on end. He's been going less and less lately with the cafe to worry about. I still go there with a few other guys though."

"My family did some of that stuff around the time when I was 15, maybe you could take me there sometime, or at least show me where the track is."

"I could do that. How does Saturday morning sound?"

"Saturday morning?"

"Yeah, the band has practice and a performance later in the day so the afternoon doesn't work."

"Okay. Meet here at 8:30 then?"

"That's a little early, but yeah, I can be here then. Do you have gear or are you going to need some?"

"I think I'll be able to find some of my mom's old stuff at home since my parents rode when they were younger, I think they still have a few suits and some bikes, I'll just use that stuff."

"Cool. I'll catch you later Sophie," Nate said as he finished his smoothie and went to go pay for their drinks. Sophie left soon after that to go home. Once she got home she dug up an old bike, helmet, and suit that she would need for Saturday and got them ready along with making sure they were all in running condition. This included checking over the bike to make sure nothing was rusted out and making sure it was all cleaned from the numerous cobwebs and substantial amount of dust.

_CHCHCH_

Saturday was soon upon Sophie. She'd been looking forward to this day all week and anticipating the arrival of the day when she'd finally be able to get back on a bike. She made sure she got to the cafe a little early and was there at about 8:20. Nate arrived a few minutes later with his bike in the back of an older Ford pick-up truck. Even though he hadn't ridden to the cafe, he was still all suited up just like she was. Sophie, however, had ridden over to the cafe to give herself a little practice before they actually hit the track.

Nate hopped out of the truck to help Sophie load her bike into the back of it. Nate got the tailgate opened up so Sophie's bike could be loaded into it. Sophie had walked the bike over to the truck and had started trying to load it in by herself.

"Let me help you with that," Nate said, carefully picking the front of the bike up and placing it securely in the back of the truck with his. "Okay. All set," Nate spoke, shutting the tailgate and climbing into the driver's seat as Sophie went to the passenger's seat.

"So when was the last time that you really rode?" asked Nate on the way to the track.

"Before today the last time was when I was 15, so about 8 years ago."

"So that makes you 23? There's no way. You don't look a day over," Nate paused. "19," he finished.

"I'll take that as a complement."

"You should."

A few short minutes later they had arrived. "So here it is. There's just a short walk over to the track," Nate said slamming his door closed, Sophie quickly followed suit and headed to the bed of the truck to get her bike from the restraints that that held it in place. They carefully walked the bikes over to the track where a few people were already racing around.

"Well, let's get to it," Nate said, putting his helmet on and starting off towards the track. Sophie followed behind him. They went around a few times before stopping to take a quick break.

"You're pretty good at this. Do you wanna race?" Nate asked as they walked to the side of the track with their helmets tucked under their arms.

"Sure, but who's going to see who wins and start us off?"

"I'm sure we can find someone," Nate spoke, scanning the surrounding area. "Hey, you," he called to a boy who was walking away from the water cooler.

"Me?" he asked, opening his drink.

"Yes you. Come over here a minute." The boy walked over to Nate and Sophie slowly and cautiously. "When we get down there, you're going to start us off and at the end you're going to see who wins, that is if it's even close," Nate said, smirking over at Sophie by the time he finished his sentence.

"Okay," the boy agreed uncertainly.

"You're so on," Sophie exclaimed. The two headed back down to the track followed by the boy. They took a couple of minutes to plan out the course of their race on the track. Once done, they lined up the front tires of the bikes so they were even.

"May the best man win," Nate said, putting his helmet back on.

"Or woman," Sophie remarked, putting her own helmet on.

"Okay, in 3, 2, 1 – GO!" the boy counted down as Sophie and Nate took off down the track.

Nate was in the lead, but only by about 3 or so feet with Sophie right on his tail. To try and get in front of Nate, Sophie went low to cut corners but ended up sliding a couple times. Despite that, Sophie was still no more than 4 feet behind Nate. In the last turn she was able to go low in the turn and nailed it, gaining the lead over Nate, much like Will had done to Zane when they raced each other. Sophie came up to the finish line in the lead and won.

"You were amazing out there," Nate said, complementing Sophie as they went to again take a break.

"Thanks. It all came back to me naturally after the first few rounds of practice."

"You said you hadn't ridden in 8 years before today?"

"Yeah."

"I find that hard to believe," Nate said taking a water. "Want one?"

"Yeah."

"Here you go," Nate said, tossing it to her. "I'm not convinced that you haven't ridden in 8 years, I think you've been practicing every day," he said, opening his water up.

"No, I promise I wasn't. I had to clean everything off, it was covered in layers of dirt and grime."

"I'll believe you – for now," Nate said. Sophie rolled her eyes. They headed back down to the track and rode around for a few more hours. They raced each other and just had an all around good time. About noon they decided to stop.

"I'm getting hungry," Nate said as they walked off the track.

"Yeah, me too, but I didn't bring anything to eat."

"Neither did I."

"You know there's a fast food place not too far away, isn't there? We could stop there for a quick bite to eat."

"Okay, yeah, I think you're right. Let's just get the bikes put back in my truck and we can head over there." The bikes were quickly brought back over to Nate's truck and loaded securely into the back. "What do you want?" Nate asked as they pulled up to the fast food place.

"A salad and a strawberry shake, number 6."

"Okay," Nate said, pulling up to order.

"Hello. Can I take your order?" a voice said through the speaker.

"We'll take a number 6 with a strawberry shake and a number 1 meal with a chocolate shake to drink."

"Any condiments?"

"No thanks."

"Will that be all for you today?"

"Yes it will."

"Your total comes to 11.62, second window."

As they pulled away, Sophie gasped.

"What, is there something wrong?" Nate asked worriedly, glancing over at Sophie to see what was wrong.

"No, well yeah, I just realized that I forgot my wallet at home so I don't have any money, or anything else except my keys."

"Oh, if that's all I can pay your way."

"If you do, I'll need to pay you back."

"No, it's fine, I'll cover it. And don't worry about it, it's nothing. What's a few extra dollars?" Nate asked rhetorically. "I can be a gentleman and pay for your food."

"Okay," Sophie agreed reluctantly.

They got their food and were on their way back when Nate remembered that he needed to be at the cafe for the band. "You wouldn't mind if we don't go back, would you?"

"No, it's fine, I understand that you have to be there for the band."

"Can I at least drive you home?"

"Are you sure you have time?"

"Yeah, and even if I'm late, it'd be worth it."

"Alright, if you want to."

"Good. Where are we going?"

Sophie helped Nate figure out where they were going, giving him the address and direction as they went. The house was one her parents were renting near the dock. They had a yacht but had chosen to live on land. When they arrived, both Nate and Sophie got out so he could help her with the bike and getting it into the garage.

"I had fun today, well, this morning," Sophie said as they stood just outside the garage.

"Yeah, I did too," Nate replied. There were a few awkward moments of silence. Nate rocked back and forth on his heels for a few seconds. When he stopped, Sophie's wandering eyes locked on Nate's. The two slowly moved towards each other until they met in a kiss. It lasted only a few seconds as Sophie abruptly pulled away.

"I'm sorry, that was wrong of me, I didn't mean to do that," Sophie said, she started walking away towards the front door.

"Wait," Nate said, taking her wrist in his hand, trying to stop her. "Don't go," he spoke pleadingly in a gentle voice that was so uncharacteristic of him. Something in both of them brought their lips back together in another kiss. For Nate, this kiss was unlike any other kiss in his life. Every other time he'd kissed a girl it was harsh and without meaning, this time it was soft and tender, gentle and loving, this time everything was different. Every other time it was because he was hitting on a girl for being hot. This time it was real. He wasn't going to deny the fact that he was physically attracted to Sophie, but this really did mean something to him. He wanted this relationship, whatever it became, to last longer than just a week or two, he wanted it to last forever. By the time they pulled apart, they were both breathless and speechless.

"I– I– I don't– "Sophie stuttered.

"Don't know what to say," Nate suggested.

"Yeah."

"You know, you could say yes to being my. . . girlfriend," Nate spoke slowly and tentatively. He waited to be put down, relationships girls had with him were never given that title.

"Yes."

"I get it if you don'– wait, did you say yes."

"I did."

Nate could barely contain his excitement, for once in his life he felt that this was going to be a meaningful relationship and he was going to make sure he did everything right. To start it off right he kissed her again. "I better get home and changed for the band's performance, I'll call you later Soph," Nate said heading back to his truck. He drove off happier then he had ever been in his life.

Sophie couldn't believe it, she really wanted this relationship. All thoughts of using it to get a job at the cafe or to get close to Zane were far from her mind. She'd dated a few guys before but this felt different somehow. Sophie went up to her room to shower and change then headed to the cafe to see Nate and the band that he helped start perform. Most people later agreed that that day the band had one of it's best performances ever.

_CHCHCH_

Nate and Sophie's relationship continued to grow. They both became better people all around because of it. Nate got serious about music and became a better singer and songwriter. He was more caring to others and took things seriously in his life because he was in a serious relationship. He became more mature and less child-like as he and Sophie continued to date and get more serious.

Sophie loosened the restraints she had placed on Will for competing and didn't force him to do it like she had previously. Because of this, Will decided to get back to competing. This time around Bella was his trainer. Their practices were much more relaxed and laid back; Bella put more stress on Will just enjoying doing what he loved instead of focusing on winning all the time which actually helped him to win quite a few competitions. Their relationship was made stronger in this too.

In time, Sophie warmed up to Bella and the two began to get along to the point where they could have civilized conversations. Bella and Sophie even started going to the mall to hang out and go shopping together, which would have been unspeakable before.

Bella and Sophie no longer fought or argued the way they had before. They especially got along after becoming sister-in-laws. Bella once admitted to Will that Nate wasn't half bad of a brother-in-law. She only hoped that Nate wasn't a bad uncle and messed up their kids, or his own for that matter. They just laughed it off because life was good for them and they were all happy where they were. And maybe, in time, they would let Sophie, and possibly Nate, in on the secret, who knew what the future held for them all. They'd just have to wait and see.

* * *

****A/N – So that was a take on how I imagine Sophie and Nate getting together and the positive influences it has on them and whatnot. If you could leave a review and tell me what you thought, that'd be great. I plan to major in creative writing so tell me what you liked, what you disliked, where I can improve, and what I did well on, it would be very appreciated. Thanks for reading.****


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